Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1887-09-30
a FEW QUESTIONS.

A FEW QUESTIONS.
The Wichita EAGLE grows very Indignant
over an article which recently appeared ii
T. Capital in which we stated that the MAJ
Stewart aud others who have recently fel
the iron hand of the law for violations of til.
prohibitory statute, will receive no sympathy
from the public; that their present condition
was but the legitimate outgrowth OF having
placed implicit confidence in that paper
course in denouncipg the state authoritie 81 fol-
attempting to close the whisky joints In thai
city.
Will the EAGLE attempt to deny that fol
more than year before the executive council
appointed metropolitan police commission
for Wichita tbatit winked at al gave quas
endorsement to the dozens of disreputable
joints that were daily and hourly violating
she prohihitory law?
Does it deny the fact that its city council
repealed all ordinances prohibiting the sale
Of Intoxicating liquors, AMI that one member
of that body was financially interested in a
notorious joiDts
Will that paper deny that when the law
abiding people of Wichita were compelled to
geek aid from the state authorities, 10 order
that these whisky dens should be closed, that
it denounced the appointment of police com
missioners as Infamous business"
And will it dare deny that its course in de-
nouncing officials who were endeavoring to
Others to go ahead and violate the prohibit
CRY law?
Let the EAGLE answer these queries and
We will PROFOUND few more.-Topeke
Capital.
The writer of the above must be either
in want OF good sense or his maliciousness
is of a character which nothing could
balk. As for his attempting to throw the
responsibility for the non enforcement Of
the prohibition law at the door Of the EA
GLE Is concerned his insinuations are lit
tie short Of Infamous. The EAGLE is a
public newspaper, read daily by twice as
many people IS read any other daily in the
state of Kansas, and we defy any one of
its thousands Of readers to show a single
instance ia which we ever endorsed In any
manner the sale of liquors; ever uttered a
word to discourage the enforcement of
the prohibition law, or ever denounced the
state authorities or any other authorities,
covertly or otherwise, for attempting to
close whisky joints. Even as much as We
despise the whole commission business"
the EAGLE never uttered g word, wink or
intimation against the Commissioners or
their police force in their attempts to
close joints We denounced the law
before its passage, denounced 1t when
1t passed and denounced It after its passage
without any thought that it would ever be
saddled on to Wichita. We denounced 1t
not only as un American, but I'm Republi-
can, declaring our fears that it would lose
the Republican party the best counties In
the state; but, when the Capital or any
other paper, or any man, pretends to say,
or even intimate, that the EAGLE has ever,
In word or spirit, opposed In any way the
the enforcement Of any law, that paper or
that man Is here and now denounced as a
liar and defied to make showing from the
files of the EAGLE that 1t or he is not
liar.
As for the Capitals talk about Claw
abiding people seeking the aid of the state
authorities, that is all bosh. Where one
man petitioned for a commission six pro-
tSSteu, auu, Us lOI w lCnltd WHISKY tCuS,
Wichita, at the time Of the appointment of
the commission, was as free Of joints. as
temperate, as well governed, as quiet and
orderly and as free from drunkenness as
was Topeka or Atchison or Leavenworth.
The city council repealed number Of
prohibitory ordinances-for what reason
will be made plain later-but that any
member of the city council W. s directly
or indirectly interested In the whisky traffic
we never heard of such thing before and
do not believe It,
The Capital can ask all the questions 1t
plesses We have the whole history of
Wichita's ''police commission game from
50 to lizard" But when the Capital out
of blind prejudice, from Interior or I'M
worthy motives, intimates that the EAGLE
ever In any sense opposed the prohibition
law, favored whisky or in any way en-
couraged the violation of any law, how
ever obnoxious, then the Capital know
ingly and maliclously lies. We therefore
simply and squarely deny singly and in
toto every one of the Capitals sneakinc
and unfounded declarations, which are
none the less so because that paper saw fit |
10 put ihem in the form of suggestive and |
cowardly questions.